This was the best day of our lives.. and it took a LOT of work from a LOT of people to make it so.
First and foremost, our friends and family - they volunteered a ton of hours, worked late into the evenings and volunteered for the most tedious and laborious tasks. Saddlerock gives you the space for 24 hours, the bridal suite and the gorgeous lights hanging from the trees - but you have to bring in EVERYTHING else. I'm talking everything from the tables and chairs to the ice at the bars to the soap and towels in the bathrooms (as well as electricity and drinking water). In addition to that, my arts and crafts urge took over and I wanted to make my own centerpieces and wedding aisle decor. Wine bottles, hurricanes, votives, LEDs, 42 table numbers, escort card and their cute gilded animal holders, wedding favor pashminas - all made and set up by amazing ladies :)
Also, ATRINA, OMG, ATRINA. Bridal & Event Lounge is AMAZING!
We loaded up a 15ft U-Haul filled with above mentioned items but also:
1) Lawn Games: Giant Connect 4, 2 sets of Giant Jenga, 2 sets of Corn hole, 1 set of ladders and 1 set of Giant Scrabble
2) Old Wedding Pictures of my parents and aunts for the wedding aisle
3) All the non-alcoholic beverages for the evening include 2 pallets(!) of water, soda, juice, etc.
4) 2000 tumblers and napkins for cocktail hour
5) 8 sets of picnic blankets and trays (hey, we wanted that outdoor picnic vibe)
6) All the bathroom baskets (towels, soap, first aid kits, etc.)
7) Bubbles for the flower girls and their red flyer wagon
...and a bunch of other super random little stuff and she and her team sorted through it all, meshed it with what Rental Connection and Three Petals were bringing and coordinated it all together to make a perfect day. There were a ton of thing that could (and probably did) go wrong but they made sure that:
1) EVERYTHING WAS ON TIME
2) That neither one of us was ever worried about anything
3) That everyone was having a good time no matter how hot it was or what wasn't going to plan
I can't say enough good things about Atrina and her team - they are all super duper nice and treated everyone with the utmost respect, kept everyone in a good mood, Morgan fixed my earrings with a glue gun (clutch.), kept everyone on time and organized (even though the priest, caterer and wedding cake were all late somehow the show was on time and no one noticed). It was a 16 hour production and Bridal & Event Lounge ROCKED IT.
You know who else rocked it? 3D Sounds. I am a little biased but the DJ can either make or break the mood at your event and let me tell you .. the hype man HYPED up the crowd. He got the baraat moving! He coordinated the surprise vidai flash mob like a pro and all the reception dance performance music was professionally mixed. During the reception, people could not stay off the dance floor which is a testament to the music because guests had already spent 8 hours outdoors in the heat. Atul and Rishal and team were professional throughout the entire planning process and created the party atmosphere at exactly the right moments. 3D Sounds has been in the industry for years and know exactly what indian weddings need and are able to customize the music just for you.
Remember when I said the venue required you to bring in EVERYTHING?! Well, if you go with Saddlerock, Rental Connection has your back. Specifically, Bob. Bob is the BOmB. I don't mean to kitschy - he's legitimately got your back, he's your biggest ally, he's the person that will tell it to you straight and tell you what's going to work and what's not going to work, he's the guy that will tell you that no, you don't really need 700 plates for your 500 guests but you will need trashcans and plastic cups so you don't have to clean up glassware... and he's the one THAT WILL ANSWER YOUR EMAILS, which is important when you're trying to do all of this planning while managing a full time job. Rental Connection brought chairs, tables, linens, stages, market string lights, pop up kitchen set ups and electricity.
We also did a lot of technical and qualitative research on photographers and videographers. Greycard knows their stuff - they've done a ton of indian weddings, know exactly what to focus on and produce absolutely BEAUTIFUL pictures. We used AKI Visuals for videography and they brought FOUR people on the wedding day - Andrew was the main cinematographer, he had 2 key stellar professionals as support and 1 person to manage the drone. They were all so fantastic to work with and I can't wait to see the finished product.
Because of the gorgeous setting, we did not have a ton of floral decor but we did get the mandap, my bouquet, boutonnieres (which everyone refused to wear, hehe), our wedding garlands, cocktail table centerpieces and some reception stage decor from 3Petals. The florals matched the gold and white theme well and the mandap was exactly what we wanted - a simple, dark wood structure with floral curtains.
Finally, food. I got a lot of great feedback about the food - Delhi Palace sets the standard for Southern California indian wedding catering. They can deliver high quality food in the middle of the dessert if you need them to - they are professionals when it comes to catering indian weddings. But it's a pain in the ass to work with them in the planning stages and they were late to the venue which delayed the first set of snacks that were meant to go out at noon. We also worked with a family friend, Raju Tailor, to create tray pass appetizers for the cocktail hour. We scoured pinterest and Raju Tailor created some masterpieces in pani puri shots, pav bhaji bruschetta, khandvi, utapam and gulab jamun which everyone loved. There's nothing like comfort food in a different medium to make things exciting.
Ok here are some additional rockstars that typically fly under the radar:
1) Henna: Neha Assar is an artist - like a real Michelangelo or Monet type of artist. I had an idea. I'm a die hard USC fan. I needed to represent the Trojans and what better way than to have them temporarily tattoo-ed on my hands for the biggest event of my life?! I sketched out what I was thinking and she took my sketch and a picture of the football gloves to create a masterpiece. Fight on Forever!
2) Make up: Nida Gazi was amazing - on time, knew her schedule/timing for the day, brought some of the best make up artists in the industry for the bridal party as well as sari experts to put my mom's wedding sari on me.
3) Hashtag Printer/Photobooth: this is the 2015 version of putting disposable cameras on every table. Guests can take pictures anywhere, upload to social media and take home prints. It's ridiculously easy, this company is great to work with and your guests will love the creative freedom.